Editing Skirmish Cancellation

While it has a place, skirmish cancelling is less prominent Towers site path than it was in Fellowship block; all of the factors that led it to prominence in Fellowship turned against it. Hobbit Stealth / Hobbit Intuition were ruled to only cancel skirmishes on the Fellowship block site path, and the two successor events ({{Card|Severed His Bonds}} and {{Card|Swiftly and Softly}}) offer very little once they can't cancel skirmishes anymore. Rather than risk drawing dead cards in the last sites when the opponent's Shadow side is often at its strongest, most players simply didn't include them. Without a reliable big threat like The Balrog, players had no reason to plan for losing skirmishes at any particular point in time. Filibert Bolger and O Elbereth! Gilthoniel! were banned with the introduction of the X-list shortly after the release of set 4. A few new skirmish cancelling cards were added, though the most played of them - {{Card|Escape}} and {{Card|Frodo's Cloak}} - are primarily used for their other functions (vitality and burden removal/healing, respectively). In short, cancelling skirmishes happens much less often and is much more predictable. Towers is also the only format without a competitive Hobbit-only deck, though they still tend to make up a majority in {{Card|Dauntless Hunter}} and {{Card|Smeagol, Stinker}} decks.

[[War of the Ring Block]] brought the most changes to the game than any set before with the "Standard" format split into two halves: the Decipher-preferred Standard, which introduced set rotation, and the player-preferred Expanded. With each new set released, the oldest set was made illegal in Standard -- set 12 rotated out set 2, which dropped all three skirmish cancelling cards remaining from Fellowship block. The skirmish cancelling cards introduced were weak at best, and the mechanic seemed sure to become an occasional gimmick rather than anything of importance. Then set 15 ushered in [[Hunters Block]] and {{Card|No Visitors}}. A two-card combo with {{Card|Daddy Twofoot, Next-door Neighbor}} allows the Free Peoples player to reliably dodge a skirmish every turn. {{Card|Bilbo, Aged Ring-bearer}} knocks off the cost (often removing an extra burden as well) so that players need nothing else to do it every turn, though sometimes {{Card|Bilbo, Melancholy Hobbit}} is preferred to pull back the same event twice per turn (once by Daddy Twofoot in the maneuver phase and once by Bilbo in his skirmish) while other components of the deck handle the burdens and wounds (two of the Shire culture's greatest strengths). {{Card|Halfling Leaf}} is even more reliable for unbound Hobbits, particularly in Expanded where it is able to discard Fellowship block pipeweed possessions to cancel skirmishes. With both No Visitors and Halfling Leaf, a Hobbit deck may only ever have to plan on what to do if the Ring-bearer is assigned to a skirmish (see '''Replacing Characters''' below).

Because minions are far more expendable than companions, skirmish cancelling is a mechanic entirely for the Free Peoples. Almost. {{Card|Race Across the Mark}} provides the only avenue for the Shadow player to cancel skirmishes (though the assignment cancelling from {{Card|Return to Its Master}} generally provides the same result - see '''Removing Characters''' above). The {{Card|Uruk Trooper}} family of minions most directly benefit, able stack themselves on a site and potentially set up a swarm later. Several {{C|Isengard}} trackers and {{C|Uruk-hai}} hunters are much stronger in fierce skirmishes (e.g., {{Card|Uruk Plains Runner}} and {{Card|Pursuing Uruk}}), and cancelling the first is one way to keep them alive long enough for their text to kick in. Aside from these specific usages, allowing any minion to avoid a skirmish that would kill it means the Free Peoples will have a much harder time ever moving twice. Realistically though, the setup and cost of using the card outweigh most benefits -- if the Shadow player is able to control a site, they must have already been able accomplish these things (winning skirmishes or minions surviving until the regroup phase) without spending the extra twilight.